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Kyler’s Latest: Teague, Pelicans, Gay, Millsap

September 1st, 2016 at 11:54am CST by Luke Adams

Jeff Teague is eligible for a contract extension, and the Pacers hope he can become the team’s long-term answer at point guard, but they may not be able to extend him before he reaches free agency next July. As Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders details, Indiana currently has just over $6MM in cap room, and likely wants to retain that space for a possible new deal for Paul George, who becomes extension-eligible later this month. To entice either player to ink a new deal sooner rather than later, the Pacers will almost certainly need to provide a raise in addition to an extension, and George figures to be a priority over Teague.

That doesn’t mean that a new, in-season deal for Teague is out of the question. However, unless George decides not to sign an extension this year, a trade would likely be necessary to clear the cap room necessary for a Teague extension. And as Kyler writes, the Pacers don’t seem overly concerned about making a deal at the moment.

Here’s more from Kyler on a few players entering potential contract years:

  • According to Kyler, the Pelicans are seeking backcourt depth, having eyed Ty Lawson and Lance Stephenson recently, and the backcourt may not just be a short-term concern. With Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans entering contract years, it seems unlikely that they’ll both still be on New Orleans’ roster a year from now, particularly since both players have had health issues.
  • Rudy Gay‘s 2017/18 player option has been a complication in trade talks, since some potential suitors don’t want to take on that option, and others would want assurances he’ll opt in, per Kyler. Still, the Kings appear ready to move on, with Kyler suggesting it’s probably “a matter of when rather than if” Gay gets traded.
  • Source close to the Hawks tell Kyler that the relationship between Paul Millsap and the team is “actually pretty good,” despite the fact that Atlanta seriously explored trading him this offseason. The two sides have had talks about Millsap’s role and his future with the franchise, but Kyler wonders if the Hawks would become more inclined to trade him if they play poorly in the first half. After losing Al Horford this summer, Atlanta may want to avoid repeating that situation in 2017.
  • Kyler also has notes on Zach Randolph and Greg Monroe, so be sure to check out his column for the full details.
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And-Ones: Holiday, Pelicans, Lakers

August 18th, 2016 at 8:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Pelicans point guard Jrue Holiday might wear protective goggles next season after undergoing eye surgery four months ago, according to John Reid of the New Orleans Times Picayune. Holiday fractured the orbital wall around his right eye in late March after colliding with Knicks forward Kristaps Porzingis. Holiday is participating in voluntary workouts with teammates in Los Angeles without any medical restrictions, Reid continues. “I’m able to do anything I want,” Holiday told Reid. “It’s been great that I can do things with no restrictions but at the same time I’m being smart with the stuff that I’m doing.”

In other news around the league:

  • Pelicans owner Tom Benson has requested a 45-day extension to finalize a legal settlement agreement involving his estranged heirs’ interest in the team, Katherine Sayre of the New Orleans Times Picayune reports. Benson sued last year to remove shares in the NFL Saints and Pelicans out of trust funds for his daughter and two grandchildren after deciding to instead to give control over the teams to his wife, Gayle Benson, Sayre continues. A confidential settlement was reached in June, Sayre adds.
  • Lakers forward Larry Nance, Jr. is “close to completely healed” from a right wrist sprain, Mike Trudell of TWCSportsNet tweets. Nance Jr. been shooting at the team’s practice facility, Trudell adds. He suffered the injury while playing a Summer League game last month.
  • Former Lakers small forward Devin Ebanks has signed with Reales de La Vega in the Dominican Republic, Sportando.com tweets. Ebanks played in Puerto Rico last season. The 26-year-old Ebanks played three seasons for the Lakers, appearing in 63 games, but hasn’t played an NBA game since 2012/13.
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And-Ones: Spurs, Celtics, Sixers, Pistons, Nuggets

May 13th, 2016 at 9:00am CST by Chuck Myron

Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili aren’t certain whether they’ll retire, as Michael C. Wright of ESPN.com details, but they’re not the only Spurs liable to hang it up in the wake of the team’s playoff elimination Thursday night. Andre Miller has strongly considered retirement, though he, too, hasn’t made up his mind yet, as he told Marc Spears of The Undefeated (Twitter link). San Antonio’s contract with the 40-year-old Miller expires at the end of next month while Duncan, also 40, and Ginobili, who turns 39 in July, have player options. David West also has a player option, and though he turns 36 over the offseason, the talk surrounding him isn’t of retirement but of the lack of regrets he has about sacrificing roughly $11MM to sign his two-year minimum-salary contract with San Antonio last summer, as Tom Orsborn of the San Antonio News-Express relays (Twitter links).

“It’s been a great experience,” West said of his season with the Spurs. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

See more from around the NBA:

  • The Celtics, Sixers, Pistons, Nuggets, Pacers and Trail Blazers all benefited this season from set-off rights, reducing their obligations to waived players who had guaranteed salary remaining on their contracts, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders details. Boston saved $620,306 from the money it owed David Lee because he signed a deal with the Mavs that paid more than $845,059, a figure equivalent to the one-year veteran’s minimum salary, Pincus writes. The Sixers saved $227,241 on JaVale McGee the same way. The Nuggets were spared $68,144 on Pablo Prigioni, the Pacers avoided paying $159,900 to Toney Douglas and the Trail Blazers shaved $327,064 from their bill for Mike Miller, according to Pincus. The Pistons saved $341,353 on Josh Smith, though that figure will be spread evenly over each season of the five-year obligation Detroit still has to him because the team used the stretch provision.
  • The Pistons also got cap relief for Aaron Gray, whom they owe $452,049 each season from 2015/16 through 2017/18, Pincus points out. Gray had to retire because of a heart condition, but a team can remove the cap hit for a player who had to retire because of a medical reason one year after his final game. Gray last played in 2014. Detroit still must pay the money to Gray, but it doesn’t count against the team’s cap, Pincus notes.
  • Agent Jason Glushon and the Wasserman agency mutually agreed to part ways, and Glushon will start his own agency, a source told Spears (Twitter link). Glushon has a short list of clients, with none more prominent than Hawks soon-to-be free agent Al Horford, who left Wasserman, Glushon and B.J. Armstrong to sign with Bill Duffy of BDA Sports last fall only to rejoin Wasserman a couple of months later. Jrue Holiday and Norman Powell are other Glushon clients.
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Western Notes: Holiday, Scott, Harden

April 15th, 2016 at 10:28pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak wouldn’t elaborate on the job status of coach Byron Scott, but merely said that he was under contract for 2016/17, adding that he intends to meet with Scott informally in the coming days, Mark Medina of The Los Angeles Daily News writes. “I know he’s hoping that he coaches here forever, but a lot of times what we do is we’re really preparing for the next GM or the next coach. That’s tough sometimes,” Kupchak said. “It does take time to develop young players. We’ll know in two or three years how effective Byron was as a parent to the young guys on this team.”

While the GM indicated it would take time to see if the players benefited from Scott’s tough approach, Kupchak did note that the coach has the full respect of the roster, Medina adds. “Byron runs a tight ship,” Kupchak said. “Byron makes sure players are where they need to be. They’re ready to practice. Practices are organized. You better be rested if you practice for the Lakers. You better be ready to work if you’re going to practice for the Lakers.”

Here’s more from out West:

  • Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry said that Jrue Holiday had a “fantastic year” after his minutes restriction was lifted and referred to the point guard and power forward Anthony Davis as the “team’s core,” Jim Eichenhofer of NBA.com relays (via Twitter). Holiday appeared in 65 games for New Orleans this season and averaged 16.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists in 28.2 minutes per outing. The coach also noted that the team’s priorities this offseason were to find a 6’7″ player who could act as a facilitator on offense and to improve the team’s defense, Brett Dawson of The Advocate tweets.
  • Nuggets GM Tim Connelly said his team lacks a true star and if the opportunity to land an impact player presents itself, Denver would have to strongly consider making a move, writes Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. “At this point, you can’t say we have anyone on the team that is a star. We have guys who are trending that way,” Connelly said. “I think Danilo Gallinari, with more team success, would have been an All-Star this year. I’m so proud of how he bounced back from a major injury. He’s fully back, back better than ever. You’d be hard-pressed to find 10 tougher offensive matchups in the NBA. So I think internal improvement is always the first and most preferable course of action. Certainly we’re always looking for ways to better our roster. If during the course of conversations we can get a guy we deem a superstar, a top 15-20 player, we’ll be aggressive in doing so.”
  • Rockets owner Leslie Alexander said that shooting guard James Harden would have a voice in the team’s free agent decisions this offseason, Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com tweets.
  • The Wolves‘ quick dismissal of interim coach Sam Mitchell demonstrates that the franchise is serious about landing a big-name coach this offseason, Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune opines. The scribe notes that the haste with which the decision regarding Mitchell was made was to give the team a head start in the interview process, considering the expected competition this summer for the top available names. Minnesota reportedly has interviews scheduled with Jeff Van Gundy and Tom Thibodeau.
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Western Notes: Walton, Pelicans, Gallinari, Paul

March 29th, 2016 at 2:49pm CST by Chuck Myron

Warriors assistant Luke Walton is reportedly poised to become a top candidate for the Knicks coaching vacancy, and the Lakers, Suns, Rockets and Kings are expected to target him, too, but former colleague Alvin Gentry thinks Walton still doesn’t gets the credit he deserves, notes Marc Berman of the New York Post. Gentry, now head coach of the Pelicans, was on Golden State’s staff last year with Walton, who inherited Gentry’s role as lead assistant and guided the Warriors to a 39-4 record while head coach Steve Kerr recovered from back surgeries. “Luke did an unbelievable job of managing egos, of rotations he played,” Gentry said. “Everything that happened there, he pushed the right buttons, so I was disappointed when people said anybody can coach that team. That’s not true at all. He has an unbelievable understanding of the game. I think [Knicks president] Phil [Jackson] knows that. [Luke] stayed in the league for a long time because of the basketball IQ he has. He gets along great with players. He’s going to be a terrific coach in the league – I really do think that.”

See more from the Western Conference:

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Southwest Notes: Dwight, Holiday, Gentry, Spurs

March 22nd, 2016 at 10:32am CST by Chuck Myron

The Rockets have one of the most analytically minded front offices, which has guided them to a perimeter-oriented approach, but Dwight Howard insists the inside-out game isn’t dead, as he tells Sam Amick of USA Today. “I feel like that’s a very successful way of playing. I know [the Rockets] have their opinions or whatever,” Howard said. “[But] for the rest of the season, I’m going to make it an effort just to do what they need me to do offensively and defensively, and not focus on what happened back in Orlando [and] what happened in L.A. [with the Lakers] and just put my mind to finishing this season on a real high note.”

Howard, who plans to opt out and become a free agent this summer, is unlikely to remain with the Rockets unless he doesn’t find a max offer or a promise of an increased role in the offense from another team, Amick believes, though Howard is cognizant of his reputation as someone who walks out on franchises and insisted to Amick that he’s worked to become a part of every NBA community he’s been in.

See more:

  • Zach Lowe of ESPN.com suggests the Pelicans and Jazz held at least cursory trade talks involving Jrue Holiday, though the conversation went nowhere, Lowe writes, with New Orleans setting too high a price for the discussion to advance. Lowe suggests the same about Jeff Teague talks between the Jazz and Hawks, though previous reports indicated that Atlanta and Utah didn’t have contact on the Teague front. The ESPN scribe speculated about Holiday and the Jazz before last month’s trade deadline.
  • It’s been a rough season for Alvin Gentry, but players around the league like him, writes Sean Deveney of The Sporting News, who counts it as a plus for the Pelicans‘ recruitment of free agents. The key will be matching free agents with Gentry’s system and vice-versa, contends Deveney, who wonders about the job security of GM Dell Demps.
  • NBA executives flocked to the wisdom of Kirk Goldsberry, who turned an expertise in mapping into a career as a journalist covering NBA advanced metrics, but now the Spurs have his information to themselves, as Buck Harvey of the San Antonio Express-News details. The team hired him earlier this month as its new vice president of strategic research.
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Southwest Notes: Gordon, Holiday, Wallace, Rockets

March 6th, 2016 at 5:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Pelicans fear that shooting guard Eric Gordon‘s season may be finished, according to John Reid of the Times Picayune. Gordon had to leave Saturday’s game when he fractured his right ring finger on a steal attempt. He missed 16 games after having surgery on the same finger in January. ”I don’t know for sure what happened, but it looked like he might have done the same thing again,” said Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry, who speculated Gordon could be out six to eight weeks. ”That would be really unfortunate because he worked so hard to get back and I really thought he was playing really good basketball.” Gordon, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, is averaging 15.4 points, 2.7 assists and 2.3 rebounds through 45 games.

There’s more from the Southwest Division:

  • Gordon’s injury will likely mean more playing time for Jrue Holiday, writes Justin Verrier of ESPN.com. Holiday started the second half Saturday after Gordon was hurt, and Gentry indicated that he wants to see more of the former All-Star point guard who’s mostly come off the bench this season. “I’m happy to be playing, if you want me to be honest,” he said. “I appreciate it. I don’t take it for granted. Obviously with previous two years and what’s happening now — and I think Eric just went out with his finger — I’m happy to be on the court.”
  • Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace gives the team an A-plus for how it has responded to Marc Gasol‘s season-ending injury, according to Ronald Tillery of The Commercial Appeal. Memphis has gone 7-2 since Gasol went down with a broken right foot last month. “The fans are enjoying this recent incarnation of the Grizzlies,” Wallace said. “It’s come together rather well and rather quickly. You have to give the players and coaching staff credit. They’ve embraced the challenge.”
  • No team has fallen harder this season than the Rockets, writes Chris O’Leary of The Toronto Star. After winning the Southwest Division and reaching the Western Conference finals last year, Houston enters tonight’s game 30-32 and in danger of missing the playoffs. “Success in this league is fragile,”  said Raptors coach Dwane Casey. “You should work every day to be better, work every day on every possession, because it is fragile and fleeting.”
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Eastern Notes: Morris, Teague, Middleton, ‘Melo

February 22nd, 2016 at 12:31pm CST by Chuck Myron

Ex-Suns coach Jeff Hornacek gave one of the most positive reviews about Markieff Morris that the Wizards encountered when they asked around the league about Markieff Morris prior to last week’s trade, sources told TNT’s David Aldridge, who writes in his Morning Tip for NBA.com. Wizards coach Randy Wittman said he only heard “rave reviews,” while Marcin Gortat and Jared Dudley, former teammates of Morris who are now on the Wizards, told the front office that Morris wouldn’t be a problem, as Jorge Castillo of The Washington Post details. See more from the Eastern Conference as the ramifications of the trade deadline continue:

  • The Bucks reportedly had at least passing interest in Jeff Teague, but they weren’t willing to part with Khris Middleton to get a deal done, league sources told Aldridge for the same piece. Milwaukee reportedly held tight to Middleton in talks about Ricky Rubio, too. The Hawks were trying to score both a starter and a first-round pick in would-be trades involving Teague, sources told USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt last week (Twitter link).
  • Meanwhile, the Pelicans were the team that clung to one of their players in their talks with the Bucks, as the conversation between those teams involving Greg Monroe fell apart when New Orleans refused to give up Jrue Holiday, according to Sean Deveney of The Sporting News.
  • Several teams think that if the Knicks don’t make much progress in their rebuilding by the middle of July, Carmelo Anthony would be willing to waive his no-trade clause, Deveney writes in the same piece. The Knicks spoke with the Rockets about Ty Lawson before the trade deadline, according to Marc Berman of the New York Post.
  • The retention of Dwyane Wade and Hassan Whiteside this summer would almost assuredly mean the end to Luol Deng‘s time with the Heat, observes Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel, who writes in his mailbag column. Front office executives around the league were led to believe that Deng was available on the trade market before last week’s deadline, as USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt noted (on Twitter).
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And-Ones: Raptors, Holiday, Middleton, Asik, Draft

January 28th, 2016 at 2:35pm CST by Chuck Myron

Attracting a major free agent to Toronto comes down to the team’s success on the court, Raptors GM Masai Ujiri believes, and Toronto is holding up its end of the bargain so far this year, as Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN.com examines. The Raptors are in second place in the Eastern Conference, thanks in part to a lineup of Kyle Lowry, Patrick Patterson, offseason signees Cory Joseph and Bismack Biyombo, and the recently extended Terrence Ross that outscores opponents by a whopping 32.6 points per 100 possessions, Arnovitz notes.

“It’s simple: Win,” Ujiri said. “If you have a good culture, you can attract free agents. We have a very unique opportunity here.”

See more on the Raptors amid the latest from around the NBA:

  • Jrue Holiday has shown flashes of his peak form, and that’s perhaps partly because the Pelicans restricted his minutes earlier in the season as he recovered from a stress reaction in his right leg, writes Brett Dawson of The New Orleans Advocate. Would-be trade suitors have been “petrified” about Holiday’s leg issues, though the Pelicans are reluctant to deal him, as Zach Lowe of ESPN.com wrote this week. “I think it helped me mentally, for one, preparing mentally to feel good,” Holiday said of the minutes restriction, since lifted. “Not to second-guess myself if I’m making a cut or doing a move, especially when it comes to the point where I’m playing back-to-back and playing a lot of minutes. And physically, I do feel really good right now.”
  • The five-year, $70MM deal that Bucks leading scorer Khris Middleton signed this past offseason is the NBA’s most trade-able contract, opines Keith Smith of RealGM, while Pelicans center Omer Asik‘s five-year pact worth nearly $53MM, also signed this past summer, is the league’s least trade-able deal, Smith writes in a follow-up piece.
  • LSU combo forward Ben Simmons unsurprisingly tops the latest draft rankings from Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com, with Duke small forward Brandon Ingram second and Providence point guard Kris Dunn third.
  • Raptors D-League power forward Ronald Roberts, who’s averaging 18.4 points in 34.4 minutes per game, tops the latest D-League prospect rankings.
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Northwest Notes: Hayward, Durant, Plumlee, Davis

January 26th, 2016 at 9:47am CST by Chuck Myron

The Jazz are “poking around” the market for a point guard, several league sources tell Zach Lowe of ESPN.com. It’s not entirely clear if such efforts are related to the team’s reported 10-day deal with Erick Green, though it would seem given the timing of that agreement, so soon after Raul Neto suffered a concussion Monday, that the team had already been looking. The Heat reportedly rebuffed Utah when it tried to engage them in Mario Chalmers trade talks over the offseason, but the Jazz’s interest in Chalmers was minimal, according to Lowe. The ESPN scribe speculates about other options, including Jrue Holiday, whose leg issues leave teams “petrified” and whom the Pelicans are reluctant to deal, anyway, Lowe reports. Lowe also believes Jeff Teague would be a fit for Utah, but reports that the Hawks have had “major trust issues” with backup Dennis Schröder and are focused on contending this season. In any case, the Jazz appear reluctant to pilfer from their store of future picks, which includes the Warriors unprotected 2017 first-rounder as the relative cost of rookie scale contracts becomes cheaper amid the rapid salary cap escalation, Lowe writes.

“Picks are that much more valuable,” GM Dennis Lindsey said to Lowe.

See more from Utah:

  • The impending financial realities threaten the core of the Jazz, as Lowe details in the same piece, and Gordon Hayward, who can opt out after next season, acknowledged to Lowe that they cast a shadow on his future. “I’m constantly thinking about that,” Hayward said. “Contracts are so short now. A lot of our guys are on their rookie deals, and they’ll come up for extensions. It all might determine whether or not I stay in Utah.”
  • The Oklahoman’s Anthony Slater examines the surprising lack of legitimate rumors about Kevin Durant‘s impending free agency, writing that the idea of the Thunder star signing a deal that would allow him to opt out after just one season “has gained traction.” It’s not clear whether that idea is growing on Durant himself or if more people are simply realizing that it would likely represent the most lucrative path for the former MVP. That would allow him to take advantage of a projected $108MM cap for the summer of 2017 and a higher maximum-salary tier, since he’d be a 10-year veteran.
  • The playmaking ability of Trail Blazers offseason acquisitions Mason Plumlee and Ed Davis has helped alleviate the pressure from incumbent guards Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, as Mike Richman of The Oregonian examines. Plumlee will be eligible for a rookie scale extension in the offseason.
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